The Engagement

by Chloe Hooper (Scribner)

“People think sex is a good way to understand another person, but it’s like studying someone’s shadow to determine how reliable or smart or confident or sincere or knowing or dangerous they are,” Hooper warns, in her second novel. When Liese, a British expat in Melbourne, starts a playful affair with Alexander, a gentleman farmer in the Australian bush, he seems mild-mannered and kind. But when she spends a weekend at his remote estate in the outback he shows himself to be cruel and vindictive. As Liese realizes how her desire for Alexander blinded her to his personality, the conflict between them grows, and the reader starts to wonder if she will survive the weekend unharmed. Hooper ably sustains the tension, carefully deploying surprises. The isolation of the farm and the “creeping shocks” of the wilderness create a potent unease. ♦

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